2.6 catatonia and autoimmune conditions in children and adolescents: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge

Pediatric catatonia is a rare and life-threatening syndrome. Approximately 20 percent of juvenile catatonia is associated with such organic causes as genetic, neurometabolic, and autoimmune disorders. Specific treatments are available for some of these conditions and can drastically improve catatonic symptoms if high-dose benzodiazepines or ECT are insufficient. Systemic autoimmune disorders (lupus, Hashimoto encephalopathy, anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate [anti-NMDA], and anti-gamma-aminobutyric acid [anti-GABA] autoimmune encephalitis) are likely to include catatonia associated with other severe mental illness symptoms (psychosis, mania).

Source: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - September 30, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: David Cohen, Vladimir Ferrafiat, Marie Raffin, Angele Consoli Source Type: research